Have you ever wondered what it looks like inside the
clock tower of King Street Station in Seattle? Well, come along as
we climb up the stairs to the very top for a stunning view of the city.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006 was
King Street
Station's 100th birthday. I joined in the celebration by
attending a panel discussion at Seattle City Hall and later visited the
station for more pictures and speeches. Click
here for press coverage of the station's birthday.

What I hadn't counted on
was a rare invitation to explore the upper parts of the station and even the
tower itself.

Steve Leach of WSDOT points out historical photographs of the
station.

My host today was Steve Leach of Washington State
Department of Transportation (WSDOT). After showing me around the
depot and pointing out the recent restorations, he invited me upstairs
for a look at the old offices, formerly used by Burlington Northern and
Amtrak. There wasn't much left upstairs, but there were hints of
the station's former grandeur as we looked through a wall at the fancy
plasterwork above the drop ceiling.

Above King Street Station's suspended ceiling...the glory that once was.

And now for something completely different. Steve produced
another key, unlocked a door on a creaky stairway, and led the way
up to the top of the King Street Station tower!

Interior framework of King Street Station tower.

The tower itself is an iron skeleton with brick essentially
filling in all the spaces. You can see places where earthquakes
have shaken and cracked the bricks, but nothing serious. The tower
is well built. The first few "floors" of the tower had these
huge 12' high wooden bookcases -- record storage, it said.
Nothing left but the shelves, of course. As you get further
up, you clamber up these very cool spiral, metal staircases.

Climbing the stairs upwards.

Wooden storage shelves about 12 feet high. These are on several levels of the tower.

Interior girders and more stairs

Spiral staircase towards the top.

The clock is not running, well, it's correct twice a day, but
that's it. It's kind of neat to look through the translucent
haze of the clock dial at the city below. It's like something out
of an old black and white movie.